While Still Learning Myself

Reflections on Turning Thirty and Being Happy

Originally published as a micro-blog on the Things I Teach My Children Facebook page

Baby girl, your mama is turning 30 soon.

This means absolutely nothing to your brand-new-self, but believe it or not, 30 is the age when a woman is supposed to start feeling “old”. She cracks jokes at her own expense, reaches for “anti-aging” creams to mask emerging wrinkles, and feels a lingering suspicion that she isn’t quite as desirable at 30 as she was at 29.

Sweet daughter, I have no idea how this has gone on for as long as it has…this “anti-aging”, youth obsessed standard that women are pressured into believing. In an age that is advocating for girls to possess positive body images and to always “dream big”, our society still bombards us with the message that being young is the ultimate desire for a woman.

When we turn 30, we are led to believe we should feel depressed instead of grateful. All that prime life left for us to live and we are made to feel past our prime.

Daughter, I’ve decided I’m simply not buying it. I’m not buying the anti-aging cream and I’m not buying this idea that women must always look and appear “young” to be of value. In fact, I’ve decided not only for my sake, but yours as well, that I will be loudly and proudly pro-aging for as long as I live.

When I turn 30, I plan to celebrate. I plan to be happy. I plan to be grateful to have lived and loved yet another year on this earth, even if it means my skin and body show the additional experience.

And if ever I falter and wonder if I’m just full of hot air, I’ll look at your perfectly new face and remember it will be just as perfect when it is thirty years old.